Partnership helps businesses fill skills gaps

FINDING the right people with the skills for the job can be a tricky area.

The world of work is changing, with the workforce demanding flexibility and employers facing huge talent shortages.

It is great to see Johnston Press being so forward-thinking and making these opportunities available to their audience.

Jonny Dunning, founder and CEO of weliketowork.com

But one Chichester company is aiming to tackle that problem with its rapidly -growing on-demand staffing platform. And the company – weliketowork.com – has recently partnered with Johnston Press, the parent company of this newspaper, to bring its digital services to local newspapers as Jobstoday Freelance.

Founder and CEO Jonny Dunning said: ‘We’re delighted to be working with Johnston Press and its network of trusted newspaper brands to bring our solution to a huge audience with local reach.

‘This partnership represents another great step in our mission to support small businesses in the UK and give talented professionals like stay-home mums, dads and retirees the chance to re-join the workforce and earn money via flexible remote working.

‘The skills are out there and with the world of work changing in the same way that the taxi and hotel booking markets have changed with the growth of Uber and Airbnb, it is great to see Johnston Press being so forward-thinking and making these opportunities available to their audience.’

Jonny, who started his career at Jobsite in 1999, set up the company last year, along with Tim Williams, who worked for six years at Goldman Sachs as a Technology VP before setting up a software business in Hove which he sold to a US company in 2015. The pair wanted to use their experience in recruitment and technology to start their own business.

Jonny said: ‘Business friends were always telling us how hard it is to find good people when they need them. We knew they were out there.

‘With Tim’s experience in using software to solve problems, my 15 years in the world of digital recruitment and a shared passion for problem solving, we got to work.

‘We started off focusing on our MumPower campaign, which was a revelation for us, but we soon realised there were others out there in very similar situations.

‘Dads approached us, retired people expressed an interest and employed professionals told us how they wanted to use their skills and interests to earn money in their spare time. This all struck a chord and we realised we could help bring their expertise to the market as part of the ‘‘hidden workforce’’.

‘It seemed crazy to us that all these people had great skills and wanted to work while companies were crying out for help and struggling to find the right people.

‘We secured investment from some prominent local business figures and chose Chichester because we feel it is a great place to grow a business.’